Rare gold Celtic coin minted in Wiltshire up for auction

It is thought the coin was minted by a small tribe that lived in the area

A rare Celtic gold coin found by detectorists and one of just seven known examples is going up for auction.

Discovered close to Royal Wootton Bassett in Wiltshire, the coin is smaller than a five pence piece.

Weighing only 1.22g ( 0.04oz ) experts believe it was minted in the Savernake Forest and may not have travelled more than ten miles since then.

More than 2,000 years old, it may be worth between £2,000 and £2,500 and has already had interest from collectors.

'I was shaking'

The coin was found by Jamie White, who was introduced to metal detecting by his dad.

He is part of a group, but was detecting alone last year in a field when he uncovered the coin.

"There was a great signal," he said.

"As I flipped the mud I saw a little bit of gold staring back at me and I had to take a seat.

"My heart had started racing - it was either going to be gold or a Christmas chocolate gold coin. It's tiny - I dropped it about three times after picking it up because I was shaking so much."

Jamie White, who lives in Swindon and grew up in Royal Wootton Bassett, found the coin

The coin, known as a "Savernake Wheel", would have come from the small tribe that lived in the area in the 1st century BC, decades before the Romans arrived.

One side of the coin depicts a Celtic-style horse and a six-spoked chariot wheel, or "sun-wheel", which might represent changes in the seasons.

The other side does have detail but is harder to decipher.

Mr White said he knew it was rare immediately: "Anything Celtic that comes up is rare. Gold was quite scarce.

"This would have been a lot to somebody - imagine losing a car," Mr White added.

Any details on the other side of the tiny coin are very difficult to make out

Kim Day is the coin expert at RWB Auctions, who will be selling the coin: "When we see Celtic coins, we know there are only a few hundred made. Then only a few of those survive.

"So holding that sort of coin in your hand, you know you're holding something that was rare in its time and even rarer now," Ms Day added.

RWB Auctions will be selling the coin on 14 February with an estimate of between £2,000 and £2,500, but Jon White, a director at the auction house, has said it is a "conservative" one, and there's "cautious optimism it could go a lot higher."